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New I-25 Lane's Quick Merge Can Cause Headaches for Drivers

The summer's biggest local highway project has added a badly needed fourth lane to a busy stretch of I-25.

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Updated: 8:58 PM MDT Aug 1, 2012

I25 lane story

New I-25 Lane's Quick Merge Can Cause Headaches for Drivers

The summer's biggest local highway project has added a badly needed fourth lane to a busy stretch of I-25.

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Updated: 8:58 PM MDT Aug 1, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE, NM —

The summer's biggest local highway project has added a badly needed fourth lane to a busy stretch of I-25.

But drivers' relief comes to an abrupt end when the extra lane suddenly ends without much warning.

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It happens on I-25 Northbound just before the Jefferson exit, and in the week since the extra lane opened, there have already been two accidents in the merge area.

Big, white slanted arrows tell drivers it's time to get over, but some drivers still find themselves stuck where the lane ends.

The Department of Transportation reminds drivers it's OK to stop or pull over, as opposed to forcing yourself into traffic.

"If for some reason you get caught in that lane that goes away there is plenty of recovery time in the shoulder. You don't have to force that movement. Be alert that lane does go away as you get to Jefferson," says Phil Gallegos of the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

Last week the freeway was shut down at I-25 and Jefferson after two separate crashes in the same area.

The purpose of the project is to relieve the bottle-neck near Commanche.

"The project limits were from Commanche to Jefferson. We did what we wanted to make more room and give people more time for people to make good decisions and hopefully they will get used to it rather quickly," says Gallegos.

The DOT says it reviewed the two accidents on I-25 and Jefferson, and concluded they were not construction related.